101 The Mirror Never Lies SN: 105 Bloody Mary
by InkOnTheWater
Summary: In this alternate universe, Dean and Sam meet a couple of hunters called Alex and Faith.  This was uploaded on my old account  smoke-in-the-water  but will continue here.  Alternate series, episode one
1. Then:

Two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, lost their mother on 2nd November 1972, as she burned up on the ceiling of Sam's nursery. Their father, John, spent his time learning to hunt every evil creature that there ever was, fighting to find the one that took his precious Mary. In 2005, Sam received a surprise visit from Dean, who brought the news that their father has been missing for a few days. Now four weeks on, the two brothers have been driving across America chasing their father. They have faced demons, ghosts, creatures unimaginable and are still as determined to find John as when they started. After John mysteriously leaves behind his most valued possession, his journal containing everything he ever knew about every evil thing, the brother's begin to catch onto their father's plan. John wants Sam and Dean to continue the hunt, kill the evil, find the one who killed their mother...


	2. Now: Defiance, Ohio

The sky was still dark, the only light from the glowing headlamps of a black truck. Walking around to the back of the truck, the dark figure slide his hand just underneath the trunk. A light shuffling of fingers followed by a simple click of a metal latch signalled the trunk opening softly. The metal frame rose effortlessly, a cool synthetic light bathing the trunk.

"Ok, are you gunna take all night just to get the weapons or can we go kill this son of a bitch?" A soft female voice floated softly on the night air, causing the dark figure to groan slightly. He turned toward his companion, eyes piercing in the blackness. He smiled mockingly at her before grabbing a few supplies from the trunk of the car and turning toward the horizon.

Alex was a hunter. One of those people rarely seen, on the edges of society, yet doing more to save the populace than many people do to save themselves. Having trained himself since he was young he prized himself as a highly skilled hunter, nearly always finishing a case. When he met Faith it all changed. She was stronger, faster and far more battle ready than he was, and ever would be. She had a finesse when she fought, a certain grace that was exuded through her movements that he could never hope to accomplish.

"Ok, so what was the plan? We go in, find the body, salt and burn, yeah?" Alex wasn't too confident working with other people, his mind never quite attuned to theirs. Faith nodded, grabbing her own weapons from their hidden supports and smiling at him mischievously. Turning to stand beside him, facing the cemetery before them, she sighed deeply and pulled a small curved blade up to head height.

"Let's do this," She smirked and began at a run toward the gates. In seconds she was there, not even slightly out of breath. Alex shook his head slightly, though he was slowly learning to cope with Faith's enhanced abilities. Alex had a very adaptive mind, quickly learning to suit his strategies to the situation. When Faith joined him, they lost the creature more times than they hoped, though soon enough Alex had adapted his mind to Faith's abilities.

The two hunters, each with weapons of a variety of natures, walked slowly through the wrought-iron gate. The gate creaks loudly, sending shivers up the spine of the man, who turned to his partner menacingly. He gave her an irritated glare and mumbled something under his breath before slowly raising the shotgun to shoulder height. Walking slowly forward, he heard the tentative footsteps behind him as his partner slowly rejoined the hunt. The wind picked up slightly, pulling the last few leaves from a small bush to the side of a well worn dirt path leading away from them into inky blackness.

"So, where is this guys grave?" She seemed unusually erratic that night, gripping the handle of a small curved blade which she held close to her chest, hovering just in front of her heart. She stepped quickly forward, barely a sound shook the night air. Silently her feet took her forward, not even awaiting a response from the stunned man feet behind her. Still amazed by how silent she was, the man quickly followed her through the grass.

"Just over there behind that yew tree," he raised a finger as if to point, but the figure ahead merely began to sprint toward the destination. Though she ran with some speed, her feet would barely touch the floor, causing not a sound, and only the slightest disturbance to the ground beneath her.

The female, Faith, stopped as she reached the tree, her eyes picking out the details in the dark, searching for signs of movement. Nothing was alive in the empty space between her and the edges of the graveyard, that much she knew. Yet something was there, watching, and it wanted them to leave. Faith turned back to her partner and beckoned him forward, watching behind him for signs of movement.

"Is he here yet Faith?" the male figure, Alex, edged his way towards her, gun pointing into the inky blackness of the still and silent night. He made his way around the small concrete slab, leant against the tree in a hurry. It was cracked, and very worn, but they could just about make out the words Dennis Rothman in the pale light of the crescent moon.

"There's nothing yet, but he knows." She knelt to the ground, falling in one swift and fluid movement. "He'll get here soon I'm sure."

"The sooner we get this done the better," Alex bent to his side and placed a small bag on the floor. Unzipping the top, he hurriedly removed its contents, trying deseperately to keep an eye on the swift movements on his hand and on his surroundsing simultaneously. He picked up a thick bottle of salt and a small liquer case engraved with a small star and stood up. Looking over at Faith he smiled in a mockingly sweet way.

Begrudgingly, Faith picked up the shovel and began to dig.


	3. 20 Minutes Later

"Ok, next time, you can do the digging," Faith moaned as she slumped into the passenger seat of the truck. She spread her arms widely, one hanging out of the open window, the other drooping over the back of her chair. She breathed out a deep sigh and rolled her head backwards. Looking at Alex she waited for his usual dry-wit response.

"Alex?" She paused for a moment, "What is it?" Following his gaze, Faith saw a newspaper in his hands. The obituary reads "Shoemaker, Steven" and goes on to talk about his death in fairly obscure tones. She took the paper from him and skimmed through it, handing it back when she'd finished. "So what, you reckon this Shoemaker guy got on the wrong end of a who-dun-it?"

"I don't know, maybe. Best check it out anyway." Alex clipped his seat belt up and turned the key in the ignition. He turned to Faith and gave her a worried stare. Leaning back over his chair and turning his head, he shifted the gearstick into reverse. Easing his foot onto the pedal the truck slowly rolled onto the main road again.


	4. Toledo, Ohio: The Morgue

Two men walked into the morgue, one tall with light brown hair, the other shorter and with a darker shade atop his head. They gave each other a glance and walk through the door to room 144. Silently they sidled up to the far desk and talk to the man behind the desk. From the shadowed room across the hall from room 144, Alex and Faith couldn't hear many of the words spoken. Faith heard what she needed, a name. Time to make their move.

"Excuse me, is Doctor Figlavitch available?" Faith moved forward, control exuded through her movements. She continued forward, aware that all the eyes in the room were on her, and stopped just next to the tall stranger.

"Er, are you all together?" The technition stumbled over his words, confused by the sudden intrusion no doubt. Alex slipped into the room and stood in the background of the action, next to the shorter man. Leaning at an angle, Alex gave them both a once-over glance. Tall one isn't my type, but this guy is kinda cute.

The tall one seemed to stutter slightly, too disorientated to know what to say. It was obvious he wasn't here sight-seeing, he probably had the same assumptions Alex did. If Faith doesn't speak, I'll have to think of a way to cover this. Luckily Faith, ever the professional, took it in her stride.

"Yeah, we're from the same uni. Shoemaker corpse, right guys?" She looked at the taller one, perfectly natural and calm. Her partner, the tall stranger, balanced her acting and continued the charade. He turned to the technition and gave him a little smile. He was just as professional as Faith and the thought that she might have met her match made Alex smile to himself.

"What the hell are you smiling at?" The hushed whisper from beside him cause Alex to turn. His smile faded and he muttered some form of response before facing front again. Cute as he was, the shorter one had one hell of an attitude on him.

"So, could you show us the corpse?" The tall one gave his most convincing performance and it seemed to pay off. The technition produced a sheet of paper for us to each sign and he passed it to Faith first. After signing her name she gave it to the two boys and they each added their own names to the list. Alex glanced at it as the shorter one passed it to him.

Faith Evans.

Hector Aframien.

James Barker.

Alex quickly added his own name to the bottom of the list and followed the group into the adjoining room. Faith was standing by the head of Mr. Shoemaker, whilst Hector and James stood by his side. They were obviously using fake names, but then it wouldn't hinder Alex too much.

"Now the newspaper said his daughter found him. She said his eyes were bleeding." James began. He was square in his stance, strong, calm once again. His partner shifted his weight continuously, uneasy. Faith however was perfectly natural, no pretence or false image, she really was at home among the dead bodies. We have got to get her a life.

"Well there's bleeding and there's ... " Faith paused when the technition removed the sheet. "And then there's liquified goop."

"Any sign of a struggle? Maybe somebody did it to him?" Hector obviously never participated much in this kind of talk. Faith seemed to think he was more more the pride, attitude and ignorance side of the outfit, whilst tall and sensitive was more the brains and charm. Though I'm sure he could put up a fight if he wanted to, Faith noted his toned arms, legs and ...

"Nope. Besides the daughter, he was all alone." The technition showed a look of honest disgust as he glanced at the obliterated eyes. Faith smirked at his reaction, rousing a striking glare from Hector. She hid her amusement and kept a poker face allowing the conversation to glide through the next few minutes without confrontation. A short temper had always been her downfall.

"You ever see exploding eyeballs?" The comment from Hector as Faith's consciousness rejoined the discussion. Her eyes flared in confusion for a moment and then relaxed as she remembered the rest of the conversation.

"That's a first for me, but hey, I'm not the doctor." The technition laughed slightly. It was unsettling that somebody who worked this closely to death and saw all of its horrific forms could still laugh about it. Well, not that unsettling considering my life, Faith smirked to herself.

"Think we could take a look at that police report. You know, for ... uh, our paper." Hector's unconvincing lies, which would crumble under close inspection, managed to fool the technition for a moment, until he stood up rather tall and replied in earnest.

"I'm not really supposed to show you that." At which point, James begrudgingly withdrew his wallet from his pocket.


	5. Toledo, Ohio: Outside The Morgue

Dean and Sam walked out of the building, talking in hushed tones. They knew they were being followed, and they knew who by. They stopped just short of the doors and turned around.

"Who the friggin' hell are you?" Dean spoke through gritted teeth, straining to contain his aggression. He was staring directly in the girls face, her dark red hair flowing gracefully around her gentle but firm expression. Sam stood back slightly, knowing that Dean was better at these confrontations than he was. He was very content to let his older brother deal with it.

"Who are we? Who the hell are you?" She was hot-headed, maybe too much for Dean to handle. Not that it would stop him from rising to the challenge. The guy, taller than the girl and easily the same height as Sam, walked past the fighting pair and stood by Sam.

"I'm Sam, this is my brother Dean, and you are?" Sam extended his hand in greeting, smiling at the man he'd just met. The man took it and signalling to the fighting pair introduced himself as Alex and his partner as Faith.

"Take it you guys are hunters?" Alex spoke cleanly and with a smooth British accent. Sam nodded and they both turned to watch the violence unfold.

"Right so, Faith was it? Who do you think you are? We were in the middle of something. I mean, come on. What the hell was that in there?" Dean was angry, a thin vein in his temple pulsing strongly.

"What was that? That was me pulling you out of a whole load of crap. If your friend over there hadn't dried up and nearly blown the whole thing. I was the one who got you in there to see the corpse, if it weren't for us, you'd still be waiting short ass" Faith was getting angry and her eyes were determined not to let Dean win in their argument.

"Without you we'd have been in there quicker. You walked in, nearly blew our cover and you hadn't even said a word. Without you, life for me would be so much brighter." Dean lacked his usual wit, his humour running dry and the battle lost.

"Ok, Dean? Now you've got that little outburst out of your system, we need to shag ass and get over to the memorial service at the daughters house." Sam grabbed the back of Dean's collar and dragged him a few inches from the scene. Dean shrugged his brother's hand off and turned to walk away along side him. Faith smirked at them as they walked off, content with her victory. Dean turned instantly and with anger in his eyes spoke calmly.

"And if we see you on one of our hunts again, be prepared to get hurt." Turning back to Sam, they walked off again.

"Bite me," the whisper barely escaped Faith's lips before she smiled again and turned to Alex. She gave him a look, a sweet innocent smile that usually meant she wanted something. Her lips slowly formed a sentence and it flowed from her lips as though she had rehearsed it. "We should probably follow them to the memorial, don't want the short one getting himself into trouble."

"Faith, we are not getting involved, there are hunters dealing with it. We should go anyway, you and me don't mix well with other hunters, remember?" Alex gave her a sincere stare, trying to provoke some sort of fight or flight mechanism (preferably the flight). She continued her innocence-and-purity charade and asked again.

"Alex, we have a duty to the people of this town. If we-"

"Whatever, just let me do the talking now, alright?" He could never hold up against her for long and had finally taken to accepting defeat without resistance. He had recently come to the conclusion that he would never be able to say no to her.


	6. Toledo, Ohio: The Shoemaker House

Sam and Dean made their way up the stairs towards the scene of the death. Together, moving as one unit. They were perfectly in sync. Exactly how John had raised them, teamwork. They turned a corner at the top of the stairs and began to walk down the hall. Passing a mirror on their way, Dean fought the urge to check his hair. They came to a wooden door, painted with a cream colour that matched the decor of the hallway. Pushing the door open, they prepared to step into the bathroom.

"What are you two doing here?" Dean groaned as soon as he opened the door, his eyes falling the pair of figures standing by the sink. Faith and Alex turned to him, no shock or surprise on their face, but a look of annoyance. Dean stepped forward slightly, trying to get into the room. "You just gunna stand there? Talk to me, what the hell are you doing here again?"

"Look, we both want to solve this, right?" Alex, ever the diplomat, waited for Sam and Dean to agree before continuing. "So how about, you stop blowing off steam everytime you see us," Faith shot Dean a snide glare to support Alex. Alex quickly turned to her, "and you can stop provoking him. We want this solved, we work together guys, simple as that. Anyone got a problem, get the God damn hell out of my way."

The three hunters stared at him, even Faith wasn't prepared for him to rise up like this. They stood for a moment, just looking at each other, each lost in his own thoughts and ideas. Then, slowly, Aex stepped into the hallway to let the two brothers in. Faith, begrudgingly, followed Alex into the hall and shot Dean another glare as she walked past. He smiled sweetly back at her.

"Alex, what the hell are you doing? They come in, pussy-footing about and you expect me to work with them?" Faith spoke in hushed tones, but the anger was clear in her eyes. "I can't work with them, you can't work with them. So why are we even trying? If they aren't going to let us help, then we shouldn't let them try. We can do this, we don't need them." Alex held up a hand to silence her.

"While you were busy getting all your PMT out of your system, I checked out Sam's wallet. They have fake ID's, the kind we could never pull off. You always wanted a way of getting in and out of a job easily, these guys are our ticket. We work with them, take what we need and run. Simple." Alex smiled at her and turned back toward the bathroom door.

"So er, Alex wasn't it? You got any theories?" Sam's voice echoed around the bathroom slightly. Alex smiled at Faith cunningly then walked toward the door. Leaning against the frame, Alex watched the pair of brothers as they tried desperately not to say "Bloody Mary" while standing by the mirror. Giggling slightly he drew the attention back to himself.

"We're kind of jumping on the ghost train with this one. No sulphur, no demon. Can't think of anything else that could have done this. And that brings us to our friends, the living impaired." Alex knew what he was talking about, decided to improve his credibility by flashing around some hunter-style terminology. He knew it wouldn't impress them, but it might make them trust him. Faith had pushed into the room behind him and started to make her way over to the window.

"We should probably go now guys, you two have a visitor," Faith didn't move from her spot, but her message was clear in the sound of her voice. Leaving the bathroom, Sam and Dean came face to face with Charlie.

"Who are you?" she asked, calmly but similar to a building interrogation. Dean tried to cover up and continue their lousy charade.

"Like we said downstairs, we worked with Donna's dad." He sounded sad enough for a funereal service, but sincerity was obviously not his strong point. Sam stood for a moment watching the exchange between Charlie and Dean before looking over his shoulder. The bathroom was empty, as though Alex and Faith had never been there. The window was open slightly and a slip of paper left on the side.

Sam and Dean quickly dealt with Charlie and Sam made an excuse to go back into the bathroom. pocketing the piece of paper, he and Dean made their hasty exit. But not before Sam, who obviously should have gone into missionary work, gave Charlie his number. _In case anything out of the ordinary happens._


	7. Toledo, Ohio: Charlie's Car

"I'm not sure. They were cops or detectives or something." Charlie was talking on her cell, driving down the road. She had one hand on the steering wheel and her nerves were shot. Too much had happened. She needed to get home, have a bath and then just try to relax. It was hard to accept that Donna's dad had died. Charlie had always liked Mr. Shoemaker.

"Whoever they were, they were cute." Jill wasn't affected by the loss at all. It didn't surprise Charlie that Jill kept her attention on the guys in the room rather than on the death. Charlie rolled her eyes slightly and mutter Jill's name down the phone disapprovingly. "You didn't think so?"

"Yeah okay, they were cute. Still, do you think something happened to Donna's dad?" Charlie was worried, she had a habit of over thinking things. Those guys were so mysterious, and didn't speak like cops. There was something different about them. They were speaking in riddles and avoiding something. The only thing Charlie knew for sure is that they were serious.

"Maybe Lily was right. Maybe Bloody Mary got him." Jill teased Charlie, and today would be no exception. Charlie tried to laugh it off, feign humour, but deep inside she wasn't willing to let anything slide. It just didn't make sense at all, and the coroner kept trying to make it seem natural, like it was 'his time'. Charlie knew better. People's eyes didn't just explode because it was 'their time'. She was worried, and Jill heard it.

"Wait, I'm sorry. Was that fear I hear in your voice?" Jill was enjoying it, like a child picking on a younger sibling. Charlie wasn't going to rise to it, she answered short and she answered simply. No. Jill, being forever the tease, tried to push it. "Charlie, I'm walking to the bathroom mirror right now."

"Jill, quit it." Charlie snapped. Jill wouldn't do it, she was just as scared as Charlie was. There's no way she would do it, but Charlie couldn't take that risk. She heard footsteps over the car, trying to keep her attention on the road ahead of her. The footsteps stopped, and Jill's voice came over the phone in a hushed whisper, adding to dramatic effect.

"Oh no, I can't help myself," Jill was using her most theatrical voice and Charlie knew it. Her nerves cooled a bit, and she managed to focus more on her driving, which had grown increasingly erratic over the past few minutes. "I'm gunna say it. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary." Silence. Pure, dead silence.

"Jill?" Charlie spoke timidly, worried and breathing at a horrible pace. A blood-chilling scream erupted from the phone, burning deep into Charlie and causing the panic to rise. "Jill!"

"You're such a freak, I'll call you tomorrow." Jill giggled and hung up the phone. Charlie was left, in the car, alone. She knew deep inside her that it would be the last time she heard Jill's voice, and the thought terrified her.

They had been in the library for hours, pouring over old records and papers. Nothing. Dean was on his sixth cup of coffee and Sam was just finishing his third mochaccino. They must have had every police report, death certificate, accident report and funereal records that even existed in Toledo. And for such a small community, there were a lot of records. It didn't help matters much when Dean pointed out that 'Bloody Mary' could be from any decade, so they had the records out going back as far as records could go.

Sam looked up, watching as Alex and Faith walked into the room. The pair moved quicky over to a row of computers on the far wall and began to sit down. Sam, wanting to be helpful and to ruin their day, told them the computers were out of order. His reply was a short glare and then they turned back to the computers. Sam stood up and walked over to the table they were seated at.

He watched as they took out a laptop and began to hook it up to the sockets in the wall. Stunned, his eyes followed Alex's fingers as he quickly typed in some search criteria and sent the request. Within moments a screen popped up that showed te response: "No results found." The pair dismantled their connection and quickly made their way from the library. Sam, utterly confused, walked back over to Dean. Looking out the window as Alex and Faith left the building, Sam managed to catch the flashing lights of a police car and tapped Dean's shoulder.

"Looks like we got another one."


	8. Toledo, Ohio: Jill's House

Dean slipped in through the window, looking around to make sure Sam had started unpacking the duffel bag. He pulled the window shut behind him and aligns himself mentally with the layout of the room. Another lesson taught in the John Winchester Quick Guide To Marine Life was to always be prepared. It was imperative that they could get themselves out of any situation without rousing suspicion, and on many occasions it helped to know where the heaviest objects were.

"What did you tell Jill's mum?" Sam wanted to check the story, make sure they were alone. They didn't want to get started and be interrupted part-way through. That had happened once before in one of those embarrassing cases where the father walks in. Its not easy to explain why two full grown men are poking around a thirteen year olds bedroom, and talking about ghosts ghouls and monsters wouldn't have helped. But that was all before Sam had gone to Stanford and was a thing of the past now.

"Just that I needed some time alone with Jill's pictures and things." Charlie had locked the bedroom door, just to be on the safe side. She walked over to the bed where Sam was slowly unpacking equipment and glanced over the stuff. A bemused look on her face her voice went on, unwavering. "I hate lying to her," Dean closed the curtains and the room was instantly under a thick cover of shadow. With the light that managed to enter the room from the dimmed bulb ahead, Charlie could see Sam fiddling with some for of camera, but she couldn't fathom what he needed it for.

"Trust us, this is for the greater good. Hit the lights." Dean waved a hand in the direction he assumed to be the light switch and helped Sam set up the camera. A little trick they had picked up in California would finally pay off. Not to mention the massive bill on one of their previous credit cards when Dad had insisted they buy a camera.

"What are you guys looking for?" She didn't try to help, or get in the way of their swift movements, but she wanted to know what was going on. She needed to know what she had gotten herself into. The room was so much different in the dark; she pulled her hands tighter around her chest, slightly scared. Pacing the floor a little she waited for the boys reply.

"We'll let you know as soon as we find it," Dean handed Sam a small attachment for the camera and watched as Sam pushed it into place. Stand up straight Sam gave it a quick once over and nodded at Dean. A knock at the window made Dean give Sam a wary look. Charlie walked over, signalled by Dean to open the curtain enough to see. Pulling the curtain open the boys saw two familiar faces.

"Let them in Charlie, we know them," Sam stood up straight again, back returning to normal from the graceful curve when he hunches low. The window slid open easily and within moments the two newest companions had entered the room.

"Hey, night vision?" Sam held the camera out to Dean. Whilst Alex and Faith orientated themselves to the room, and Faith took the opportunity to pick up all the trinkets and ornaments, Dean flicked a switch on the camera. The night vision switched on and Sam could see through the camera now. "Perfect,"

"Do I look like Paris Hilton?" Dean posed, pouting his lips and turning from the camera. Sam smiled at the comments and held the camera on his for a second. Faith walked over, eyeing the camera and she smirked.

"You look like a slut in night vision," She paused for a moment, "So, yeah, you're Paris Hilton." Alex smiled absent-mindedly. His back was to the group and he was just entering the bathroom. The air was cold in here, it felt off, stale. Walking over to the mirror he let his fingers glide over the marble-effect worktop. Looking up his fingers found the frame of the mirror and they danced around the edge slightly. When they reached the lower side of the frame, he stopped.

"Guys, might wanna check in here first." Alex called out to them in the other room. He could hear them talking in hushed voices about the death, about how only one of two victims had actually summoned 'Bloody Mary'. It surely didn't matter, this was the legend sure enough. Mirror, Bloody Mary and exploding eyeballs.

Sam walked into the bathroom, holding the camera ahead of him. He pushed Alex aside and began to do a sweep around the mirror. At the base of the frame, where Alex's fingers had stopped only moments before. Through the camera they could see the faintest trickle of a substance, something that wasn't meant to be there. "Hey, there's a black light in the trunk, right?"

Dean returned moments later with the black light. Sam had already begun to strip the thin paper from the back of the mirror and was ready to have a look with the black light. Passing the UV rays over the surface the small half circles appear in a florescent colour. The light moved further down, a whole hand appearing from the darkness. The room was cold again, the sudden chill in the air not entirely unexpected. Words. A name.

"Gary Bryman?" Charlie was confused, didn't know what was going on, but by this point she would accept an explanation.

"You know who that is?" Sam pressed, they needed to get to the bottom of this. People all across the world play Bloody Mary every day, if more people died- they needed a way to stop this.

"No." Charlie looked at the back of the mirror and drifted off into her own thoughts. Alex put the mirror back into place and began dusting down any prints they had left. They did not need people going door to door at the motels asking questions.


	9. Toledo, Ohio: The Park

Sam began to walk toward the four people on the bench. Dean was next to Charlie, talking to her quietly. Alex and Faith were standing by a tree, whispering to each other and shooting odd glances at Sam as he got closer. Faith seemed the more private type and Sam had learnt on many occasions that it was best not to pry with people like her.

"So, Gary Bryman was an 8-year-old boy. Two years ago he was killed in a hit and run. The car was described as a black Toyota Camry. But nobody got the plates or saw the driver." Sam was reading from a small notepad he had in his hand. He was standing behind Dean and Charlie, looking down at them both from his great height. Faith moved forward.

"Give you all three guesses who that was..." She whispered to herself. Charlie looked down slightly, eyes wide in shock. They all looked at her, though Faith merely feigned interest.

"Oh my God." Charlie breathed softly and continued her vacant stare.

"What?" Sam spoke just as softly, trying to match her tone. He leant forward, easing his posture to show how his relaxation around them all.

"Jill drove that car." Charlie put her head in her hands and sighed softly, admitting the truth inside herself. Dean moved closer slightly, softening his appearance to match the mood. His voice was soft when he spoke, but he still exorcised a level of authority over the situation.

No shit Sherlock, Faith grinned as the thought passed her mind.

"We need to get back to your friend Donna's house." Dean looked at her incredulously and began to stand.

Sam held the flashlight up and kept it moving down the back of the mirror swiftly. A glowing handprint seeped out of the hardwood and began to disappear as the light passed it. The glowing shape of a letter began to appear, rising out of the darkness. 'L'. The light moved on, spelling out the rest of the name.

"Linda Shoemaker," Sam read aloud. Because obviously we're blind and can't read for ourselves, Faith remarked coldly.

"Why are you asking me this?" Donna was calm, but the anger was building. Who were they, to come into my home, days after he died and ask this? She waited, tensing her fingers to control the rising tide of rage.

"Look, we're sorry, but it's important." Sam tried to remain compassionate but there was a sense of urgency in his voice. They need to get out of here quickly and sort this out before more people died.

"Yeah. Linda's my mum, okay? She overdosed on sleeping pills, it was an accident, and that's it." Donna flared her voice angry and panicked. She wanted to get out of that situation. Losing one parent was bad enough, losing two was worse. Why can't people just leave me alone to grieve? "I think you should leave," the calm had returned.

"Now Donna, just listen." Dean tried to reason with her, but it was like throwing tooth picks at a charging elephant.

"Get out of my house!" Donna turned, screaming at them and darted up the stairs. She was out of the situation and breathed deeply as she began to feel momentarily better.

"Oh my God. Do you really think her dad could've killed her mum?" Charlie couldn't connect the dots theway the others had, needed every step broken down for her. Faith rolled her eyes again, it seemed to become a habit around these people. Wasn't it obvious to them, the way it was to her?

"Maybe," Sam was thinking, deeply. They all looked at him for a moment, waiting for some major revelation or epiphany. Nothing.

"I think I should stick around." Charlie volunteered. Alex and Faith exchanged nervous glances then looked at the number of mirrors on the walls. Hardly the safest place to be.

"All right. Whatever you do, don't-" Dean didn't get a chance to speak as Chalire interjected.

"Believe me, I won't say it." Charlie gave them a stern look.

"So what are we dealing with here, a ghost?" Alex was pacing the room, trying to brainstorm. Faith was on one of the beds and she was trying to focus her mind on the people they were trying to help.

"If it is mary, she should have died in the town." Sam argued. He knew that couldn't be the case, but he had to point it out before they tried to follow such a flawed assumption.

"I'm telling you man, there's nothing local. I checked." Dean was by the laptop tapping on the keyboard. He had a look of extreme concentration on his face, with a hint of annoyance sprinkled along his brow.

"What if it isn't local?" Alex spoke, looking at the floor as the thought dawned. Looking up he registered the confusion on everyone's faces and tried to explain. "She didn't die here, we know that. So maybe her ghost is here because of something else."

"Because of a person, or an object maybe?" Faith added. She seemed to follow Alex's train of thought perfectly.

"Ok guys, got a hit on a Mary who died with a mirror." Dean held his hand up slightly as he spoke, trying to draw attention to himself. "One, Mary Worthington Fort Wayne, Indiana. And look at this picture guys." He spun the laptop around and the black and white image of a bloody handprint came into view.


	10. Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Detective walked around to the other side of the table, looking down at the floor in dismay.

"I was on the job for 35 years, detective for most of that. Now everybody packs it in with a few loose ends, but the Mary Worthington murder. That one still gets me." He shook his head softly and closed his eyes for a moment. Lost in his thoughts he put his hand up to his forehead and pushed against it softly, almost trying to push back memories.

"What exactly happened?" Dean asked inquisitvely. He really knew how to act interested even though he only really cared because Sam did. In Dean's mind all he had to do was salt and burn the bitch. But Sam liked to do things his way.

The detective looked at Dean suspiciously for a moment, then asked a simple question: "You boys said you were reporters?"

Sam stepped in, prepared and unphased by the accusative tone in the detectives voice. "We know Mary was 19, lived by herself. We know she won a few local beauty contests, dreamt of getting out of Indiana, being an actress. And we know the night of March 29th, someone broke into her apartment and murdered her, cut out her eyes with a knife." The detective looked at Sam, his eyes confused, but his concerns subdued.

"That's right," the detective was confused now. If the two people before him knew all of that, what more could they possibly hope to gain by talking to one measly detective?

"See sir, when we asked you what happened, we wanted to know what you think happened." Sam waited for the detective to move beofre following him to another room. Dean rolled his eyes, bored out of his mind, then followed the pair into a room labelled "RECORDS". Naively hoping they would enter some form of Police music underground full of AC/DC LPs, he was sorely disappointed as his eyes caught sight of a room full of filing cabinets.

The detective walked over to a cabinet on the far side of the room and pulled open the drawer labelled 'W'. Thumbing his way through the files he stopped at "Worthman" and "Wordsmith". He sighed softly before sliding the drawer closed again. Pushing past Sam and Dean the detective made his way back into his office and quickly laid his hands on a file in the drawer of his personal filing cabinet.

"Technically I'm not supposed to have a copy of this." He spoke softly know, it was obvious how truthful his words were. He slipped the file open and found a picture that was familiar to Sam and Dean, though they made sure not to let on that they had seen it. "Now see that there?" He paused while his finger glanced over the picture. "T-R-E?"

"Yeah" Dean was a man of many words, but only when he wanted to be. His response was a mixture of intrigue and utter boredom.

"I think Mary was trying to spell out the name of her killer." The detective was certain in his convictions, that much was clear. Sam however, wanted to press on his knowledge to see just how much evidence he had to back up his thoery.

"You know who it was?" Sam was pressing him.

"Not for sure, but there was a local man. A sugeon, Trevor Sampson." The detective pulls another picture out of the folder. Pointing to the man in the picture he scowled slightly. "And I think he cut her up good."

Dean zoned out of the conversation slightly, trying to work out why on earth they were even in Indiana when the case was in Ohio. He tried to stay positive and convince himself that this was necessary, but it was hard to forget the mounting gas bill that all these detours seemed to cause.

"Yeah, but how do you know it was Sampson who killed her?" Dean tried to look as though he had been paying attention.

"It's hard to say, but the way her eyes were cut out... it was almost professional." The detective trailed off slightly as two figures appeared in the doorway of the office, familiar to the eyes of Sam and Dean. The woman stepped forward and flashed a card under the nose of the detective, turning slightly toward Sam and winking.

"Hey, I'm- We're here from CBC News, we have a few questions of our own we'd like to pose about the Mary Worthington case." Faith spoke softly to the detective, without taking her eyes off Sam.

"I didn't think the case was important to the press, it's been cold for years." He pushed the card back into her hand and his voice was dumbfounded.

"There are similarities to a few open cases in another state. Is it possible they could be connected?" Alex, still standing by the door, was through with the games. He was ready to cut to the chase and get the answers they need before turning to go right back where they started from.

"It can't be the same guy. The only suspect we had, Trevor Sampson, he's dead." The detective looked confused still, but with that final statement, somehow at peace.

"Where was Mary buried?" Sam put in, growing tired of the circulare talk.

"She wasn't she was cremated."

"What about that mirror, it's not in some evidence lock-up somewhere is it?" Dean, for once, was making some kind of sense.

"Ah, no. It was returned to her family a long time ago."

"You have the names of her family by any chance?"


	11. Toledo, Ohio: School Bathroom

Charlie walked into the bathroom side by side with Donna. They were talking about the recent events.

"I mean, you bring these strangers into my house and they ask me things like that?" Donna simply wasn't pleased. She had that tone in her voice she always had when she blamed Charlie for things that she knew weren't Charlie's fault.

"They were only trying to help. Please, Donna, you have to believe me."

"What? About Bloody Mary?" She looked at herself long and hard in the mirror above the sink.

"Please, I know it sounds crazy-"

"Crazy doesn't even begin to cover it. I mean it's one thing for my sister to believe this crap, she's 12. But you?" Donna shook her head in utter disgust and confusion.

"Think about the way your Dad died, okay? And the way Jill died," Charlie was grasping at straws, she needed Donna to believe her, but she knew it wouldn't happen.

"Okay so," she turns to the mirror and speaks quickly. "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary"

Charlie gasped and cried out in shock. She glanced at the mirror, than back at Donna. Then at the mirror again. "Why would you do that?"

"Oh my God. There really is something wrong with you" Donna walked off in disgust. Charlie glanced into the mirror again before running out of the room panicked.

Walking along the corridor Charlie glances painfully in every direction, looking for reflective surfaces. She could feel the eyes in the back of her neck, cold accusing eyes. The corridor was empty, but in the window behind her a figure appears. Hidden in the window, half in this world, half in the next, was a woman dressed in black, hair over her face. Unknown to Charlie, she was being watched by the reflection.


	12. Toldeo, Ohio: Motel Room

"Hey, hey it's okay." Sam sat down next to Charlie on the bed, trying to comfort her. Faith rolled her eyes, Can't we let the girl breathe for a minute. "Hey, you can open up your eyes Charlie. It's okay, all right?" Dean had just thrown a sheet over the last mirror and came to settle near the pair. Alex was standing by the door and Faith was by the window glaring at Charlie on the bed.

"Look, everything is safe now Charlie. Look up for me." Alex walked over, sensitive and calm. Charlie looked up and into his inhumanly warm eyes. She seemed to calm down. Faith could remember the first time she looked into Alex's eyes, the pure feeling of calm he seemed to radiate was unimaginable. She could only describe it as a pit-of-the-stomach kind of calm, one that seems almost angelic.

"You're going to stay right here on this bed, and you're not going to look at glass or anything else that as a reflection, okay? As long as you do that, she cannot get you." Sam was resolute in his words, even looking her dead in the eyes to prove his sincerity. Dean sighed softly under his breath, but Faith caught the sound as it escaped his mouth. Obviously she wasn't the only one who found babysitting a haunted school girl to be a tedious waste of time.

"But I can't keep that up forever. I'm going to die aren't I?" She breathed softly. A surprising amount of clarity and serenity in her voice. Faith put that down to Alex's calming prescence. She steeped forward, deciding to hurry this conversation a long a bit, not wanting to be around these people for longer than she had to be. It wasn't anything personal, but other hunters made her nervous.

"Look, we need to ask you something. You're not going to die, so long as we can help it, but we need your help. What happened?" Faith put on her most caring voice before she spoke, trying to sound legitimate.

"We were in the bathroom. Donna said it." Charlie was still shocked by that simple occurance. Faith rolled her eyes, dumb or what.

"That's not what we're talking about. Something happened, didn't it? In your life... a secret... where someone got hurt. Can you tell us about it?" Dean was kind and caring, underneath his tough exterior it was nice to see some genuine human emotion. Faith had been around enough people to recognise the sincerity of his concern. It was touching to see.

"I had this boyfriend. I loved him. But he kind of scared me too, you know?" Faith nodded along to what Charlie was saying, flinching slightly at the word 'boyfriend'. "And one night, at his house, we got in this fight. Then I broke up with him, and he got upset, and he said he needed me and he loved me, and he said 'Charlie, if you walk out that door right now, I'm going to kill myself'. And you know what I said? I said 'go ahead'." Faith bolted from the room, into the bathroom, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Alex quickly jumped off his feet and followed her. The three pairs of eyes left in the room followed them as they left before Sam told Charlie to continue.

"How could I say that? How I could I leave him like that? I just... I didn't believe him, you know? I should have." She put her face back on her knees and began to sob. Sam gave Dean a quick glance before walking over to the bathroom door and speaking softly.

"Guys. We know where we need to go. And we need to go now." The bathroom door opend and Faith walked out of the motel room purposefully.


	13. Toledo, Ohio: On The Road

Sam and Dean were in the Impala, talking about the case. Behind them in a large black truck was Alex and Faith, talking about the boys in the car in front.

"You know her boyfriend killing himself, that's not really Charlie's fault." Dean had his eyes dead ahead on the road, but he was relaxed and comfortable.

"You know as well as I do, spirits don't exactly see shades of gray, Dean. Charlie had a secret, someone died. That's good enough for Mary." Sam was staring at the road as well, with the odd sideways glance at Dean.

"I guess" Dean faltered, not quite caring about the excuses for ghostly murders.

"So, what do you think we should do?" Alex was tapping his fingers rhythmically on his legs. Faith had the wheel, music blaring out of the speakers to keep her mind centered. She sighed softly before replying.

"They're nice enough guys, but we do need to go ahead I think. We can't stay with them, you know that." Faith, resolute as always. She watched the Impala's movements closely and followed each one with an unerring accuracy.

"Why can't we? They don't know the truth yet, we can hold out with them. You know what it's like for us out there. We can't survive alone." Alex took a small dagger out of a duffel bag by his feet, it was sleek and sharp. The light caught it at an odd angle, it was made of iron. He took a small cloth that had been soaked in a salt solution and ran it along the blade.

"They'll find out, and we can't risk that. We take what we need and we go. That's how we survive and you know that Alex." Faith had ended he matter, there was no way Alex could talk her out of it now.

"Well, who's going to summon her?" Dean had finally decided to draw up some form of plan. It would help if we had some kind of clue what the hell we were doing once we got there. Sam paused before he answered, though they both knew what he was going to say.

"I will. She'll come after me."

"You know what, that's it," Dean pulled the car over to the side of the road and watched as the truck overtook before screeching on their brakes loudly.

"What the hell are they doing?" Faith slammed her hands on the steering wheel in frustration.

"Give them a minute ok, they're talking." Alex looked out the passenger side window and watched the exchange inside the Impala. "I think Dean's angry."

"Well there's a surprise" Faith smirked to herself. "How long do you think they're going to take?"

Alex closed his eyes for a few moments, rubbing his forehead for a moment. He opened his eyes, looking at the exchange again. "A few more minutes I should think."

"And besides, all of this isn't a secret, I mean I know all about it. It's not going to work with Mary anyway." Dean was collected, but still slightly irate.

"No you don't." Sam said, simple but effective. Dean paused, trying to work it out in his head.

"No I don't what?" Dean asked, he was confused now. It had been quite a simple conversation, but he was still confused by that sentence.

"You don't know all about it, I haven't told you everything." Sam was staring straight ahead into the blackness of the road. Dean shook his head softly, his forehead furrowing slightly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well it wouldn't really be a secret if I told you, would it?" Sam smirked at his brother.

"Right, so what's our plan of action then?" Alex turned to Faith as he spoke, watching as the light from the dashboard caught the planes in her face perfectly, illuminating her with a beautiful, but deadly, appearance.

"We help them with this town, take what we want from them and get the hell out of dodge." Faith put the truck into gear and got ready to follow the Impala. It hurt Alex to think of stealing from other hunters, but he knew he needed Faith and he also knew that arguing with her was a suicide mission.


	14. Toledo, Ohio: Estate Antiques A Shop

Alex, Faith and Dean stood by the door, waiting. Sam was kneeling down, desperately trying to pick the lock on the front door. Faith started tapping her foot slightly, until Alex shot her a glance. Sam finally got the door open and he quickly stood up and entered the room.

"Out of practice are we, Sammy?" Dean smirked. He stepped past Sam and into the shop. Turning his flashlight on he passed a quick scan of the shop and stopped abruptly when his light was reflected back at him. There were mirrors everywhere. How the hell are we going to find the right one in all of this? He walked forward, letting the others into the shop and sighed, annoyed.

"Okay guys, this is going to be annoying. Everyone know which one we need?" He held the picture up so they could see it, still facing dead ahead. They all said they did and slowly thr group began to fan out. Alex and Sam went branching off to the right, instinctively, whilst Dean and Faith walked off to the left, flashing their lights in every direction scanning for the right mirror.

"Is it a good idea to leave those two on their own?" Alex laughed softly, Sam chuckled back before walking forward blinding Alex as the light bounced back off the mirrors. They looked together, looking in opposite directions without even trying to co-ordinate it. It seemed to work fluidly on its own accord. Sam was surprisingly calmed by Alex's presence, finding it an odd comfort to have someone different watching his back. He knew Dean would never let anything happen, but Sam liked the change. It was fresh and exciting.

"Maybe they've already sold it?" Dean's voice rang out through the shop, followed in quick succession by Faith telling him to keep the noise down. Sam chuckled again, enjoying the rare occassion when someone tried to control Dean. Maybe it was cruel of him to laugh at his brother's expense, but hey, that's what brothers do right? Sam replied loudly when his eyes fell on a familiar sight, his own reflection framed by an ornate golden frame. It matched the picture perfectly.

"I don't think so." Dean and Faith soon came up behind Sam and looked at the mirror over his shoulder. Pulling the picture out of his pocket again, Dean checked it aginst the picture himself. A perfect match.

"That's it." Dean sighed. "Are you sure about this?" Sam didn't reply. He just handed him the flashlight and faced the mirror dead on. Faith walked backwards, checking out the rest of the shop to make sure they wouldn't be disturbed smashing mirrors. Sam took a deep breath in.

"Bloody Mary"

Faith rounded a corner, grasping a small blade tightly in her hand. She checked every mirror twice, looking for Mary herself. It wasn't that she thought Sam's plan would fail, she just didn't trust the dead.

"Bloody Mary"

The name rang out through the shop, echoey and haunting. She found a door at the back of the shop, so she walked forward to check it. Grasping the handle carefully she tried to open it. Locked.

"Bloody Mary"

The torches flickered and Faith let go of the door handle slowly. In the mirror behind her, out of her sight, something moved. She turned away from the door, looking out into the vast hall of reflections. There were too many for her to check them all, but hidden away in each of them was a pair of dark eyes, watching her movements.


	15. Toledo, Ohio: Estate Antiques A Shop 2

Faith spun around, it was her voice she had heard. Her voice, but not her words. Her reflections followed her, all of them. It wasn't her. And yet she knew it was. It was why she had snuck off in the first place, she knew Mary would follow her. She wasn't, however, expecting it to be her voice that accused her.

"It's your fault"

The air was dry in her throat now, her skin cold and tight. She spun around again, checking each reflected version of herself. What was going on?

"He's dead because of you Faith"

Then she felt it, the blood. At first she thought she was crying, but then it hit her. The smell. The blood was snaking down her face smoothly, following the easiest route. The metallic taste hit her lips and she fell to her knees instinctively. She found the reflection that wasn't right, but still Faith was stunned.

"You killed him"

It wasn't Mary looking at her, not some deceased judgemental woman. It was herself. She could see the blood staining her reflections face as well, but it wasn't shocked or panicked like it ought to have been. Faith was huddled on the floor now, blood dripping onto the hardwood flooring beneath her, staining the wood. It was painful, like having her heart pulled up into her throat. Then suddenly, it was all over.

Shattered pieces of glass littered the floor as Faith's vision returned. Above her, breathing heavily was Sam, holding a crowbar tightly. The bar was now wedged in the wall behind where the mirror had previously been, and Sam didn't even try to prise it free.

"Are you ok?" He knelt down beside her, wiping some of the blood off her face with his hand. She pushed his hand off to the side and got to her feet quickly. She's strong, Sam realised. He pulled the crowbar from the wall with ease now he had moved away from her.

"I'm fine, now let's go get this son of a bitch." Faith led the way back to Mary's mirror, holding the blade still tightly in her hand. When she saw Alex, he ran at her, flinging his arms around her in a caring embrace. She pushed him off quickly. "Alex, I'm fine. Can we not do this now?"

"Fine... We still need to get her into this-" He trailed off. Faith's eyes were watching Sam. He was standing in front of the mirror now, holding the crowbar tightly. His reflection began to bleed, the same as Faith's had done.

"It's your fault. You killed her. You killed Jessica." Alex ran at the mirror, but something pushed him back. Pinned against the wall, he watched helplessly as Sam fell to his knees. Glancing the other way down the shop, Alex saw Faith pinned against the wall opposite him, her knife piercing deep within her own palm.

Another scattering of glass as the mirror smashed again. Dean was standing there this time, having smashed another mirror. Alex and Faith fell from the walls, landing roughly on their feet. Alex walked over to Sam laughing.

"The way you dived in to save her earlier. A little 'Titanic' wasn't it?" He chuckled to himself. The blank looks being shot at him made him stop. "'Titanic'? Where Leo Dicaprio dies to save her at the end? No?" He paused for a moment, then he looked down in mock shame, "okay, I'll shush"

Faith and Alex began to lead the way out of the shop, not noticing when Sam and Dean stopped. Closing the door behind them, Faith leaned into the window of the Impala, unlocking the door. She quickly opened the glove compartment, took the box of fake ID's and slammed it shut again. Alex, meanwhile, was pulling salt and bladed weapons from the trunk.

"Should I grab the shotguns too?" He whispered.

"Can you fire a shotgun?" Faith laughed. Alex quickly smiled and put the guns back. He slammed the trunk and climbed into the passenger side of their truck, slinging their stolen goods onto the back seat before driving off into the night.


End file.
